Robert Millar (marketer)

Robert Millar (1877–1960) was an Irish priest and marketer, who worked in Norway. Each year the Marketing Association of Trondheim gives out a reward in his honour. At the museum Sverresborg there is a permanent exhibition about Millar and his initial work to create good advertisements in Norway.

Career

Millar was born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Ulster.^[1] Educated at Belfast Royal Academic Institution and later at [[Queens University Belfast]], Millar trained and became as a presbyterian priest and studied in New College, Edinburgh, Millar moved to Trondheim, Norway, in 1903. Originally intending to stay for a few weeks, he got a job as an English teacher, and in 1906 as a secretary for the Norwegian Trekking Association in Trondheim. From 1909 he was Norway's first marketer, working for Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskab.^[2] Millar has been credited for introducing modern marketing in Norway.^[3] In 1914 he started the publication Romilla Revenue, to publish critical articles about advertisement in Norway. Two years later he founded the Trondheim Marketing Association.^[4]

For many years there had been talk about building a tramway from the city to the recreational area Bymarka. On 20 August 1915, Millar and two friends were waiting for the bus to take them to Fjellseter where they were planning to have dinner. When the bus never came, they decided during dinner in the city centre to try to establish the tramway. The same day he sent a number of letters to people and associations, mostly local sports clubs, inviting them to found a private company to build and operate the tramway. When he arrived back a week later from a trip to London, all the invited people had accepted. The first meeting was held on 3 November, and Millar was, albeit redundant, appointed chair of the committee. An eighth person, engineer Ferdinand Bjerke, was added to the committee. Millar stayed in the position until 6 September 1916, when a general assembly was held and the company Graakalbanen was founded.^[5][6]

In 1917, Millar moved to Kristiania to found an advertisement agency.^[2] In 1918 he was a co-founder of the advertising school at Oslo Stock Exchange, the first of its kind in the Nordic countries. He died in 1960.^[1]

References

1. "Millar, Robert". Store norske leksikon. Kunnskapsforlaget. 2007.
2. Kjenstad, Rune (1994). På skinner i Bymarka. Baneforlaget. p. 17. ISBN 82-91448-01-9.
3. Arena Nedre Elvehavn. "Morgenstund på Dokkhuset" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 17 January 2009.
4. Sverresborg. "Den moderne reklamen" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 17 January 2009.
5. Kjenstad, 1994: 12–17
6. Brox, Karl H. (16 July 2004). "Graakalbanen over 80 år". Adresseavisen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 19 January 2009.